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Aerial Navigation
The basic principles of air navigation are identical to general navigation, which includes the process of planning, recording, and controlling the movement of a craft from one place to another. Successful air navigation involves piloting an aircraft from place to place without getting lost, not breaking the laws applying to aircraft, or endangering the safety of those on board or on the Earth, ground. Air navigation differs from the navigation of surface craft in several ways; aircraft travel at relatively high speeds, leaving less time to calculate their position en route. Aircraft normally cannot stop in mid-air to ascertain their position at leisure. Aircraft are safety-limited by the amount of fuel they can carry; a surface vehicle can usually get lost, run out of fuel, then simply await rescue. There is no in-flight rescue for most aircraft. Additionally, collisions with obstructions are usually fatal. Therefore, constant awareness of position is critical for aircraft pilots. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, marine navigation, air navigation, aeronautic navigation, and space navigation. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks. All navigational techniques involve locating the navigator's Position (geometry), position compared to known locations or patterns. Navigation, in a broader sense, can refer to any skill or study that involves the determination of position and Relative direction, direction. In this sense, navigation includes orienteering and pedestrian navigation. For marine navigation, this involves the safe movement of ships, boats and other nautical craft either on or underneath the water using positions from navigation equipment with appropriate nautical char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instrument Flight Rules
In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Flying Handbook'' defines IFR as: "Rules and regulations established by the FAA to govern flight under conditions in which flight by outside visual reference is not safe. IFR flight depends upon flying by reference to instruments in the flight deck, and navigation is accomplished by reference to electronic signals." It is also a term used by pilots and controllers to indicate the type of flight plan an aircraft is flying, such as an IFR or VFR flight plan. Basic information Comparison to visual flight rules It is possible and fairly straightforward, in relatively clear weather conditions, to fly an aircraft solely by reference to outside visual cues, such as the horizon to maintain orientation, nearby buildings and terrain features for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Point Of No Return
The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is no longer possible, being too dangerous, physically difficult, or prohibitively expensive to be undertaken. The point of no return can be a calculated point during a continuous action (such as in aviation). A particular irreversible action (such as setting off an explosion or signing a contract) can be a point of no return. Origins and spread of the expression The phrase "point of no return" originated as a technical term in air navigation to refer to the time and/or location during a flight at which the aircraft no longer has enough fuel to return to its originating airfield. Important decisions may need to be made prior to the point of no return, since it will be unsafe to turn around and fly back if the pilot changes their mind after that point. Otherwise, it may correspond to the aircraft's maximal safe range in a situation where the onl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetic Variation
Magnetic declination (also called magnetic variation) is the angle between magnetic north and true north at a particular location on the Earth's surface. The angle can change over time due to polar wandering. Magnetic north is the direction that the north end of a magnetized compass needle points, which corresponds to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines. True north is the direction along a meridian towards the geographic North Pole. Somewhat more formally, Bowditch's American Practical Navigator, Bowditch defines variation as "the angle between the magnetic and geographic meridians at any place, expressed in degrees and minutes east or west to indicate the direction of magnetic north from true north. The angle between magnetic and grid meridians is called grid magnetic angle, grid variation, or grivation." By convention, declination is positive when magnetic north is east of true north, and negative when it is to the west. ''Isogonic lines'' are lines on the Earth' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
True North
True north is the direction along Earth's surface towards the place where the imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface of the Earth on its Northern Hemisphere, northern half, the True North Pole. True south is the direction opposite to the true north. It is important to make the distinction from ''magnetic'' north, which points towards North magnetic pole, an ever changing location close to the True North Pole determined Earth's magnetic field. Due to fundamental limitations in map projection, true north also differs from the grid north which is marked by the direction of the grid lines on a typical printed map. However, the geographic coordinate system, longitude lines on a globe lead to the true poles, because the three-dimensional representation avoids those limitations. The celestial pole is the location on the imaginary celestial sphere where an imaginary extension of the rotational axis of the Earth intersects the celestial sphere. Within a margin of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetic North
The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed to rotate in three dimensions, it will point straight down). There is only one location where this occurs, near (but distinct from) the geographic north pole. The Earth's Magnetic North Pole is actually considered the "south pole" in terms of a typical magnet, meaning that the north pole of a magnet would be attracted to the Earth's magnetic north pole. The north magnetic pole moves over time according to magnetic changes and flux lobe elongation in the Earth's outer core. In 2001, it was determined by the Geological Survey of Canada to lie west of Ellesmere Island in northern Canada at . It was situated at in 2005. In 2009, while still situated within the Canadian Arctic at , it was moving toward Russia at between per year. In 2013, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with North magnetic pole, magnetic north. Other methods may be used, including gyroscopes, magnetometers, and GPS receivers. Compasses often show angles in degrees: north corresponds to 0°, and the angles increase clockwise, so east is 90°, south is 180°, and west is 270°. These numbers allow the compass to show azimuths or bearing (angle), bearings which are commonly stated in degrees. If local magnetic declination, variation between magnetic north and true north is known, then direction of magnetic north also gives direction of true north. Among the Four Great Inventions, the magnetic compass was first invented as a device for divination as early as the history of science and technology in China, Chinese Han dynasty (since c. 206 BC),#Li, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slide Rule
A slide rule is a hand-operated mechanical calculator consisting of slidable rulers for conducting mathematical operations such as multiplication, division, exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry. It is one of the simplest analog computers. Slide rules exist in a diverse range of styles and generally appear in a linear, circular or cylindrical form. Slide rules manufactured for specialized fields such as aviation or finance typically feature additional scales that aid in specialized calculations particular to those fields. The slide rule is closely related to nomograms used for application-specific computations. Though similar in name and appearance to a standard ruler, the slide rule is not meant to be used for measuring length or drawing straight lines. Maximum accuracy for standard linear slide rules is about three decimal significant digits, while scientific notation is used to keep track of the order of magnitude of results. English mathematician and clergy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flight Computer
A flight computer is a form of slide rule used in aviation and one of a very few analog computers in widespread use in the 21st century. Sometimes it is called by the make or model name like E6B, CR, CRP-5 or in German, as the ''Dreieckrechner''. They are mostly used in flight training, but many professional pilots still carry and use flight computers. They are used during flight planning (on the ground before takeoff) to aid in calculating fuel burn, wind correction, time en route, and other items. In the air, the flight computer can be used to calculate ground speed, estimated fuel burn and updated estimated time of arrival. The back is designed for wind correction calculations, i.e., determining how much the wind is affecting one's speed and course. One of the most useful parts of the E6B, is the technique of finding distance over time. Take the number 60 on the inner circle which usually has an arrow, and sometimes says rate on it. 60 is used in reference to the number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
METAR
METAR is a format for reporting weather information. A METAR weather report is predominantly used by aircraft pilots, and by meteorologists, who use aggregated METAR information to assist in weather forecasting. Raw METAR is highly standardized through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which enables it to be understood throughout most of the world. Report names In its publication the '' Aeronautical Information Manual'' (''AIM''), the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) describes the report as ''aviation routine weather report'', while the international authority for the code form, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), describes it as the ''aerodrome routine meteorological report.'' The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (part of the United States Department of Commerce) and the United Kingdom's Met Office both employ the definition used by the FAA. METAR is also known as ''Meteorological Terminal Aviation Routine Weathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Triangle
In air navigation, the wind triangle is a graphical representation of the relationship between aircraft motion and wind. It is used extensively in dead reckoning navigation. The wind triangle is a vector diagram, with three vectors. *The air vector represents the motion of the aircraft through the airmass. It is described by true airspeed and true heading. *The wind vector represents the motion of the airmass over the ground. It is described by wind speed and the inverse of wind direction. Note that by convention wind direction is given as the direction the wind is ''from''. In a vector diagram such as the wind triangle, wind direction must be stated as the direction the wind is blowing ''to'', or 180 degrees different from the convention. *The ground vector represents the motion of the aircraft over the ground. It is described by ground track and ground speed. The ground vector is the resultant of algebraically adding the air vector and the wind vector. The wind tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
